Sofat loyalists agitated
SOLAN, Jan 30  At least 250 workers, including
almost the executive bodies of various frontal
organisations of the BJP in Solan city, and rural
'mandals', held a meeting at the local P.W.D. Circuit
House and decided to resign enmasse in case the party
ticket for the forthcoming Solan byelection was not
allotted to Mr Mohinder Nath Sofat in place of the
officially declared candidate, Mr Rajiv Bindal, by
tomorrow  the last date for filing nominations.

Wildlife
management poorSHIMLA, Jan 30  Despite a vast network of
sanctuaries, zoological parks and mini zoos, the
management of the ever-dwindling wildlife reserves in
Himachal Pradesh continues to be in a state of neglect.

Resentment
against Health Dept's workingKANGRA,
Jan 30  The deterioration in the working of the
Health Department has started affecting the national
programme of health and family welfare planning in the
district. Women interested in undergoing family planning
operations, have expressed resentment over the
department's working.

Ayurvedic
hospital inauguratedHAMIRPUR, Jan 30  Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal,
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, today asked the youth
not to hanker after white collar jobs due to their
limited number and instead start their own small
industrial units to earn their livelihood. He said the
state government was setting up a number of industrial
training institutes so that education was linked to jobs.

HP docs to go on pen-down
strikeHAMIRPUR,
Jan 30  Medical officers of the Department of
Health and Family Welfare will go on a pen-down strike
from February 1 in protest against the state government's
decision to appoint a bureaucrat as Additional Director
of Health.

Two
labourers buried alive
PALAMPUR, Jan 30  Two labourers were buried alive
when a slate quarry caved in near Nagoni Hullah in
Khaniara panchayat, reports reaching here said. The
deceased had been identified as Aati (35) and Ishroo
(34).

SOLAN, Jan 30  At
least 250 workers, including almost the executive bodies
of various frontal organisations of the BJP in Solan
city, and rural 'mandals', held a meeting at the local
P.W.D. Circuit House and decided to resign enmasse in
case the party ticket for the forthcoming Solan
byelection was not allotted to Mr Mohinder Nath Sofat in
place of the officially declared candidate, Mr Rajiv
Bindal, by tomorrow  the last date for filing
nominations.

They faxed messages to
the President of the Himachal BJP, Mr Suresh Chandel,
informing him about their decision and urging him to rise
above "petty factionalism" and intervene
personally "to deliver justice in the best tradition
of the BJP".

The message was signed
by 88 BJP workers, including Mr Rajinder Singh and Mr Jia
Lal, President and General Secretary, of the Solan
(Urban) BJP, Mr Ved Prakash and Mr Nand Kishore,
President and General Secretary of the rural 'mandal',
Mahila Morcha Urban President Usha Thakur, Mahila Morcha
(Rural) President Ahilya Sharma, Kisan Morcha President
Khiali Ram, Mr Fateh Singh Mr Devendra Verma and Mr
Dharmendra Thakur, President and General Secretary,
respectively of the District Yuva Morcha.

The meeting where Mr
Sofat was present, saw emotional outbursts by his
loyalists who minced no words in denouncing the BJP
central high command's decision to field Mr Bindal only
because he was a Dhumal man.

Mr Sofat was defeated by
the Congress candidate by 26 votes in the last General
Election. Initially, he was declared winner by one vote.
Two recounts at the request of the candidates later
resulted in the Congress victory. Mr Sofat alleged
'official bungling' in the counting process and
approached the High Court.

His petition was
accepted by the High Court and the Supreme Court
following which the Congress candidate was unseated and
the byelection ordered. This triggered off an intense
fight between the Dhumal and Shanta Kumar factions over
the allotment of the party ticket. Mr Dhumal pressed for
the candidature of Mr Rajiv Bindal, President of the
Solan Municipal Council, and succeeded.

Sources in the BJP said
Mr Dhumal tried to assuage the feelings of Mr Sofat by
offering him the plum post of Chairman of the State
electricity board. The Chairman of the board enjoys the
status of Cabinet Minister. However, Mr Sofat declined
the offer.

When contacted, Mr Sofat
said his supporters wanted him to file his nominations as
an Independent in case the party did not rescind the
decision to allot the ticket to Mr Bindal by tomorrow.

He, however, made it
clear that 'being a loyal party worker and having spent
almost the whole of his life struggling for the cause of
the BJP, he could not even think of not abiding by the
party high command's decision."

He said though he had
expressed his "full cooperation" for Mr Bindal
immediately after the party announced his candidature in
New Delhi, unfortunately the latter had not cared to
contact him so far.

Meanwhile, the General
Secretary of the Himachal Vikas Congress informed this
correspondent on the telephone that his party nominee, Mr
Hemendra Thakur, would file his nominations here
tomorrow.

SHIMLA, Jan 30 
Despite a vast network of sanctuaries, zoological parks
and mini zoos, the management of the ever-dwindling
wildlife reserves in Himachal Pradesh continues to be in
a state of neglect.

Irrational and
inadequate set-up of the wildlife wing coupled with the
shortage of funds and trained manpower are coming in the
way of the effective management of wildlife. There are
only four wildlife divisions in the state to look after
32 sanctuaries, two national parks and about a dozen mini
zoological parks. While the Centre has been insisting
that each state should have an independent set-up for the
proper management of wildlife, in Himachal the control of
many sanctuaries remains with the territorial wing. In
fact, the Kugti and Tandah sanctuaries in Chamba were
transferred from the wildlife wing to the territorial
wing only two years ago. The Centre has now made it clear
to the state that it will not give any funds for the
sanctuaries which were managed by the territorial wing.
Besides these two, control of the Dhauladhar and Sechu
Nullah sanctuaries, the park of the Kalatop-Khajjiar
sanctuary, Gopalpur Nature Park, Kalapul Deer Park and
part of the Great Himalayan National Park is with the
territorial wing. Such a set-up is not conducive to the
effective preservation of fauna and the management of
wildlife reserves on scientific lines, senior officers of
the department point out.

Chamba is one of the few
districts in the state which have a wildlife division but
the control of three sanctuaries in the district has been
given to the territorial wing. On the contrary the Pong
Dam sanctuary in Kangra district, located about 150 km
away, is being looked after by the DFO (Wildlife),
Chamba.

There are 11 sanctuaries
under the Shimla wildlife division. These include the
Naina Devi and Gobind Sagar sanctuaries located about 180
km away. Besides, the far-off Renuka and Shillai
sanctuaries in Sirmaur district are also being looked
after by the DFO (Wildlife), Shimla. It is physically
impossible to exercise any kind of control over the
sanctuaries located so far off.

According to senior
officers a minimum of eight wildlife divisions are
required for the effective management of wildlife. New
wildlife divisions should be set up at Dehra to take care
of the sprawling Pong Dam sanctuary in Bilaspur district
and for the Naina Devi and Gobind Sagar sanctuaries.
Besides, all sanctuaries should be put under the control
of the wildlife wing so that there is no problem in
getting funds from the Centre.

There is also a feeling
in the department that far too many sanctuaries have been
set up which the fund-starved state is not in a position
to manage effectively. Many of these were opened on
political considerations and serve no purpose as far as
the preservation of fauna is concerned. In fact, some of
the well-protected forests have more wildlife than the
sanctuaries.

The officers say it is
high time that the government reviews the whole set-up
and retains only the "feasible" sanctuaries.
Instead of frittering away the meagre funds available on
a large number of sanctuaries, the department should
concentrate on a few and go in for proper wildlife
management.

The wildlife wing has
also been short of trained staff. Only about 50 per cent
of the skeletal staff at its disposal has been trained in
wildlife management.

KANGRA, Jan 30 
The deterioration in the working of the Health Department
has started affecting the national programme of health
and family welfare planning in the district. Women
interested in undergoing family planning operations, have
expressed resentment over the department's working.

More than 70 such women,
who had reached the Kangra subdivisional hospital here
yesterday from far flung areas of Lunj Balogulah, Gheen,
Jendrah, Rajiana, Kholi,Geerbhala and Teiara had to
return back without undergoing these operations as the
family planning camp was cancelled at the last moment.
According to health workers who motivated the patients
for undergoing these operations, these camps were held at
the hospital on all Saturdays for the past 10 years, but
the department decided not to hold these camps here on
two Saturdays, January 15 and 22, without any reason.

On January 8 also the
patients had to wait for four hours outside the hospital
because of the Agriculture Minister's programme on the
hospital premises. Later on only 20 operations were
performed after 2.30 P.M. and 50 patients had to go back
without operations.

Tension prevailed today
at the hospital when the hospital authorities received a
message from the CMO office that the camp had been
cancelled. About 35 cases had already been registered.

The Chief Medical
Officer and the Medical Superintendent, Tanda Medical
College, were not available for comments due to the Chief
Minister's visit to the district yesterday.

HAMIRPUR, Jan 30 
Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister,
today asked the youth not to hanker after white collar
jobs due to their limited number and instead start their
own small industrial units to earn their livelihood. He
said the state government was setting up a number of
industrial training institutes so that education was
linked to jobs.

Addressing a gathering
at Kadhyar village in this district today, he said his
government was committed to providing a network of roads,
better health services and education. People should start
small cottage industries like food processing units for
increasing their income.

Earlier, he inaugurated
a 10-beded ayurvedic hospital in a private building and
also laid the foundation stone of the new complex of the
hospital. A sum of Rs 84 lakh will be spent on its
construction. Houses for doctors would be provided in the
complex, the Chief Minister said.

He said a Rs 5 crore
plan had been sanctioned by the central government for
the development of the catchment area of the Salasi Khad
in Hamirpur district under the DRDA programme. A sum of
Rs 75 lakh had already been sanctioned under the project.

The Chief Minister said
a Rs 4.40 crore scheme had been prepared for lifting
water from the Beas to meet the needs of residents of
Hamirpur.

Mr Mohan Lal, Minister
of State for Ayurveda, said an X-ray plant would be
installed at the newly inaugurated hospital before March
31.

HAMIRPUR, Jan 30 
Medical officers of the Department of Health and Family
Welfare will go on a pen-down strike from February 1 in
protest against the state government's decision to
appoint a bureaucrat as Additional Director of Health.

Dr Des Raj Sharma, press
secretary of the district unit of the HP Medical Officers
Association, said here today that the pen-down strike
would be from 9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. every day till
February 11. If the government took no action, the
medical officers would not undertake emergency duties and
boycott all national programmes from February 12.

KANGRA, Jan 30 
The Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA)
yesterday endorsed the decision of the Central Executive
Committee of Associate Doctors in Himachal Pradesh to go
on a pen-down strike for two hours daily from 9.30 a.m.
to 11.30 a.m. from February 1 in protest against the
alleged "callous" attitude of the state
government towards their demands.

In a statement here, Dr
Susheel Sharma, press secretary, HMOA, said they
regretted the inconvenience the public would face due to
the strike. The HMOA strongly condemned the posting of an
HAS officer as Additional Director, Health, and demanded
his immediate removal.